Hei! Jeg har det fint, takk! Hvordan har du det? :)

Here are some resources you might find helpful!

Memrise is another good app/website for learning Norwegian (I've linked you to level 1 of the main course, but there are loads of other courses and vocab lists too).

Lingohut has a ton of lessons.

Sissel Ofstad has texts for levels A1-B2 (I've linked you to the A1 texts. If translating simple sentences is what you're after, this is probably the link you're looking for!)

You can try following some of the instagram accounts I've linked here.

Norskkurset on Youtube is great. The teacher speaks slowly and you can add autogenerated subtitles (which as far as I'm aware are pretty accurate). There are both grammar videos and vlog posts.

I also recommend Norsklærer Karense's YT channel. Here's a link to her beginner videos (she speaks 100% in Norwegian, but she does speak slowly and clearly). She also has a podcast (again, it's entirely in Norwegian so it might be difficult if you're still very new to the language)

This post has a ton of resources you can try out.

CALST is good for working on spoken Norwegian (especially if there's a dialect you want to try out).

If you're willing to pay for a textbook, I recommend The Mystery of Nils. If you're not, the company that makes the book has a number of free resources, and you can access the audio files of each chapter for free as well. They also run a language café every Sunday, which I've yet to actually go to, but it's free! I think you have to sign up to their mailing list if you want to join in. You can also get a free preview of the book if you're not sure it's for you.

Norwegian's also available on the apps Drops and uTalk. I'm not really big on either - they only teach vocab and functional phrases without really explaining anything, and while they're both theoretically free they limit how much you can use them without paying - but you might find them useful as a little extra something.

Ever look at an obi attached to a Japanese novel or manga and wonder how it’s describing the title you’re holding? How do Japanese publishers gas up their titles to entice potential readers? Let’s look at some often recurring words.

好評（こうひょう）Good reputation/reception, popular. Titles that have gotten a lot of buzz or good will have this word used in its marketing or general descriptions.

名作（めいさく）Masterpiece. Speaks for itself!

傑作（けっさく）Masterpiece, best work(s). You may see this in connection to one-shot collections

熱狂（ねっきょう）wild enthusiasm, crazy about. How to describe that this series/franchise has extremely loud and enthusiastic fans? This is one way! This is also a word you may often encounter with 的（てき）attached. (Link leads to a Maggie-sensei lesson)

珠玉（しゅぎょく）Gem, jewel. Sometimes seen in marketing for anthologies with a selection of several authors meaning they have a selection of hidden gems for you!

蘇る（よみがえる）To resurrect. Announcing the return of something that was lost or forgotten! A common way to hype a reprinting or new edition of an older series. 

emoji – meaning – origin

🈁️ here – ココ 

🈂️ service – サービス 

🈷️ month/moon – 月 (げつ / がつ / つき)

🈚️ free of charge / there isn’t  – 無料 (むりょう) / 無し (なし)

🈶️ not free of charge / there is  – 有料 (ゆうりょう) / 有り (あり)

🈯️ reserved –  指定 (してい) 

🉐️ bargain – 得 (とく)

🈹️ discount – 割引 (わりびき)

🈲️ prohibited – 禁止 (きんし)

🉑️ acceptable – 可 (か)

🈸️ application – 申請 (しんせい)

🈴️ passing grade – 合格 (ごうかく)

🈳️ vacancy – 空室 (くうしつ) 

🈵️ no vacancy – 満室 (まんしつ) 

㊗️ congratulations – お祝い (おいわい)

㊙️ secret – 秘密 (ひみつ)

🈺️ open for business – 営業 (えいぎょう)

When buying manga be it various physical or digital editions you might wonder how to decipher the words explaining the contents for you. So here’s a little guide to help you wonder less 

描き下ろし（かきおろし）newly drawn pictures/new content. if you ever see this on the promotional obi band, the back of the volume, or in a product description this means the edition contains new exclusive content, usually extra pages or new illustrations. And if you change the kanji to “write” 書 its still says the same but means newly written content!

収録作品（しゅうろくさくひん）included works. Ever feel lost when shopping around for the works of an author who has produced a lot of one-shots? Or looking for a specific one? Look for this! google with it even, it tells you which stories is included in the specific edition you’re looking at. 収録 meaning “compilation” or “recording” is generally useful to know as it pops up in many contexts.

カラーページ color page. This speaks for itself, generally just keep an eye out for カラー if color pages or illustrations is what you’re looking for.

解説（かいせつ）explanation/commentary. Now this is a feature interesting to not just manga but also Japanese novels. It is very common for there to be a couple pages long commentary, essay, or analysis included by public figures who are not the author themselves! They could be colleagues, actors who are fans, rivals, you name it. In the manga world these guest appearances are most likely found in bunko or renewal editions rather than in the plain tankobon. Sometimes you may see this material listed as エッセイ simply meaning essay. 

あとがき Afterword. Usually written by the author themselves and usually translated with foreign language editions

全 complete. I present this kanji more as a symbol than something to be read. When i wonder if a series is complete i usually check the ebook listing and sometimes it will list the volumes as for example 全15巻. This basically means “complete 15 volumes” the first kanji meaning “complete”, and the last one meaning “volume”. If its ongoing it will say 現在2巻. 現在（げんざい）”currently 2 volumes”. Also look for 完結（かんけつ）meaning “conclusion” or “completion”!

There’s a lot of words helpful to know when you’re shopping for manga, be it tankobon volumes or magazines so I thought I could compile a few of them! I don’t know how comprehensive this will be but if you have any questions for this part or future ones or think there’s something I should add please send me a message! In this part I will talk about words that you might see on manga magazine covers. A lot of information is conveyed on those covers but how do you figure out which ones inform you of the content included? Let’s begin with a few

巻頭カラー（かんとうカラー）Opening color pages. If you see a title advertised on the cover with this attached you know that means it will have color pages and a color illustration in the beginning of the magazine which is depending on the magazine always printed on glossy color pages. Sometimes you might see センターカラー meaning the color pages will be further inside the magazine.

新連載（しんれんさい）New serialization. A title advertised with this is a brand new serial! If you’re looking for the first issue of a series keep an eye out for this, or maybe you’re just looking for a brand new fresh off the press serial!

付録（ふろく) Furoku, or attached gift/freebie. A furoku could be anything from a photo card, to stickers, to a little bag. Not all magazines have these normally but if you’re shopping online and can’t verify it with your own eyes you can always check a magazine’s website or social media if you want to be sure, or it will be simply displayed on the cover. 

暖炉「だんろ」 fireplace, hearth, stove​

荒地「あれち」 wasteland, abandoned land

弱虫「よわむし」 coward, weakling, wimp, sissy​

魔力「まりょく」 magical powers, spell, charm

軍艦「ぐんかん」 warship, battleship

長女「ちょうじょ」 eldest daughter, first-born daughter​

魔女「まじょ」 witch​

決戦「けっせん」 decisive battle, deciding match, play-off

能弁「のうべん」 eloquence, oratory

山小屋「やまごや」 mountain hut

隠れ家「かくれが」 hiding place, hideout, retreat, hideaway

雨漏り「あまもり」 roof leak​

肩掛け「かたかけ」 shawl

回し者「まわしもの」 spy, secret agent​

心変わり「こころがわり」 change of heart, change of mind

中折れ「なかおれ」 felt hat, fedora; being interrupted or broken in the middle

帽子屋「ぼうしや」 hat shop, hatter, hatmaker

掃除婦「そうじふ」 cleaning woman

悪知恵「わるぢえ」 craft, cunning, guile, serpentine wisdom

我楽多「がらくた」 junk, rubbish, trash, garbage, odds and ends

魔方陣「まほうじん」 magic square

薄情者「はくじょうもの」 heartless, insensitive person

影武者「かげむしゃ」 body double

咳き込む「せきこむ」 to cough violently, to have a coughing fit

[id: a gif of a queer pride flag waving in the middle of a crowd /end id]

Dividers are by @firefly-graphics, I mostly sourced this from articles, link for the one i mainly used is in the source!

Sexuality

お釜/オカマ - literally means "rice pot", means gay or effeminate man and is used as a derogatory term, though some members of the queer community consider it reclaimed and use it among themselves.

お鍋/おなべ - literally means "cooking pan", used to refer to people who are afab who live their lives as men. The term can also be used to refer to butch lesbians and trans men alike, and the way people identify with the term may refer to different experiences but it matters to some ppl and that's okay

お焦げ /おこげ - literally means "burnt rice stuck to a cooking pot", makes reference to オカゲ and refers to women who enjoy the compang of gay men, used only within the queer community

同性愛 - same-sex love, homosexuality, used in more formal situations the same way you'd say "homosexuality"

同性愛者 - homosexual person

性的指向/せいてきしこう- sexual orientation, more preferred by the queer community

性的嗜好/せいてきしこう - sexual preference

ゲイ - gay

レズビアン - lesbian

バイセクシャル - bisexual

両刀使い/りょうとうづかい - literally means "user of two swords", common way to refer to bisexuality

両性愛/りょうせいあい - clinical term for bisexuality, not widely known in general use

パンセクシャル - pansexual, lesser known to the general public

全性愛/ぜんせいあい - literally means "all sex love", used as a term for pansexual but is also not known much among the general public

ノンケ - straight

異性愛/いせいあい - heterosexuality

Gender

オネエ - femme, sis, queen

トランスジェンダー - transgender

Ｘージェンダ - genderqueer, nonbinary

Misc

ホゲる - "to let loose", to let your queer identity be seen through your actions

オネエ言葉/オネエことば - queens talk, exaggerated parody of feminine japanese.

クィア - queer, the word isn't common in both general public use and within the queer community

“I’m a therapist and keep this poster in my waiting room, apparently it’s saved a few lives.”

I don’t like the phrase “a cry for help.” I just don’t like how it sounds. When somebody says to me, “I’m thinking about suicide. I have a plan: I just need a reason not to do it,” the last thing I see is helplessness.

I think your depression has been beating you up for years. It’s called you ugly, and stupid, and pathetic, and a failure, for so long that you’ve forgotten that it’s wrong. You don’t see any good in yourself, and you don’t have any hope.

But still here you are: you’ve come over to me, banged on my door and said, “HEY! Staying alive is REALLY HARD right now! Just give me something to fight with! I don’t care if it’s a stick! Give me a stick and I can stay alive!”

How is that helpless? I think that’s incredible. You’re like a marine: trapped for years behind enemy lines. Your gun has been taken away, you’re out of ammo, you’re malnourished, and you’ve probably caught some kind of jungle virus that’s making you hallucinate giant spiders.

And you’re still just going, “GIVE ME A STICK. I’M NOT DYING OUT HERE.” “A cry for help” makes it sound like I’m supposed to take pity on you, but you don’t need my pity. This isn’t pathetic. This is the will to survive. This is how humans lived long enough to become the dominant species.

With NO hope, running on NOTHING, you’re ready to cut through a hundred miles of hostile jungle with nothing but a stick, if that’s what it takes to get to safety.

All I’m doing is handing out sticks.

ワニカニ reviews 💐

ワニカニ, three new lessons 💕

元気 chapter 12, pg. 276, 77, 78 👅

元気 chapter 12, pg. 282 🐷

元気 chapter 12, pg. 283, 84 🌸

元気 chapter 12, write down 〜んです notes 💮

I did, in fact, not do my ワニカニ lessons :( 💕

Officially finished 元気 I !! 🌸